Birmingham 2012

hangin' on the porch

Cobb Lane B&B

Our day began with a lovely breakfast that started out with a delicious peach cobbler.  After a leisurely morning, since nothing opened until 1:00, we drove to the Civil Rights Institute.  The 16th Street Baptist church is across the street.  It's the church where 4 girls died when it was bombed. The park across the street has many signs directing visitors on a walk along the same routes the protesters marched along back in 1963.   It was about 96 degrees out, so we did not follow the full walk.  At 1:00, we were part of the first group to be let into the Institute for the day.  It began with a movie about the history of Birmingham (founded in 1900) and the civil rights movement.  Then we were allowed to walk through the exhibits.  Very informative.

Birmingham March Walk

16th Street Baptist Church

Next, we went to the Birmingham Museum of Art.  They had a show of Andy Warhol's car paintings.  It's a nice museum covering many periods of art, and it's free with free parking!  After a fairly quick tour of the museum, we headed off to Atlanta.  The goal was to get to the World of Coca Cola by 6:00.  We found the place, and then searched for parking.  We found a lot and rushed to the building.  Not easy from where we parked.  We got to the ticket window at 5:59, but everything seemed shut down.  I pulled out my phone to check the time again and it suddenly changed to 7:00.  Oops!  I forgot to calculate in the time change.  I think we're going to have to live without sampling 100's of coke flavors.

Wayne Thiebaud - Fish Circle

cute and creepy rat sculpture at the BMA